Funny / Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

• When Sam spies the two kids who ultimately tell everyone on Sesame Street where Big Bird is, he barks at them like a guard dog to send them running.
  Sam: Hey kids! Get away from the talent! Go on! Git! Scram! WOOF! WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF-WOOF! Ha ha ha ha ha!
• Cookie Monster's insatiable appetite ends up turning Gordon and Susan's beautiful yellow Volkswagen Beetle into The Alleged Car by the end of the film.
  Gordon: Cookie, will you stop eating the hubcap?
  Cookie Monster: Taste delicious, me so hungry.
  Olivia: But Cook, we haven't even started on our trip yet.
  Cookie Monster: That's okay. Me eat three other hubcaps later.
  Gordon: Cookie!
  • Later on:
  Gordon: Cookie, if you wanna eat, go eat Olivia's luggage!
  Cookie Monster: Okay.
  Olivia: Gordon!
  (Gordon just shrugs)
  • At the end, when what's left of the Beetle pulls into Sesame Street:
  Susan: What happened to the car?
  Gordon: Don't ask me! (points at Cookie) Ask him!
  Cookie Monster: Hi. (burps) Excuse me.
  Susan: Our insurance man is not gonna believe this.
• Kermit's joke: "Why did the chicken not cross the road? Because it's chicken, get it?"
• Cookie Monster's good-bye.
  Cookie Monster: Don't forget to eat!
  Big Bird: I won't, Cookie Monster.
  • Grover's good-bye is arguably even funnier.
  Grover: Don't forget to breathe! In and out!
  Big Bird: (without a trace of sarcasm) I always do, Grover!
• The Sleaze brothers looking for Big Bird, currently disguised as a haystack.
  Sid: Hey look. A haystack.
  (Sam looks at the walking haystack; a disguised Big Bird hiding from Miss Finch)
  Sam: We're not looking for haystacks, you chowderhead. Keep your eyes peeled. Big Bird's gotta be around here somewhere.
• Super Grover, exhausted from his continous flying, falls into Gordon's VW Beetle, thinking he's found Big Bird.
  Super Grover: (while his cape covers his eyes) Big Bird! Big Bird! I found you! Big Bird! Big— (Olivia removes the cape) This is not Big Bird. You are imposters.
  Gordon: Grover.
  Olivia: Grover?
  Super Grover: Super Grover, please. When's lunch? Hahaha.
• When the Sleaze Brothers have spotted Big Bird.
  Sam: Big yellow bird at 1 o'clock.
  Sid: Is it that late already?
  Sam: Its Air Force talk, you nerf!
  • They then try and fail to catch Big Bird with a gigantic butterfly net.^note Big Bird: My aching feet.
  Sam: I can't believe it. He's gone. (to Sid) HOW COULD YOU MISS HIM? HE'S 8 FEET TALL!!
  Sid: YOU WERE GOING TOO FAST!!
  Sam: Sid, don't shout at me.
  Sid: You were going too fast.
  Sam: We don't get mad, we just start all over. NOW LET'S GET GOING!!
• When the Sleaze Brothers finally capture Big Bird, by way of the bird himself asking them politely if they can help him out.
  Big Bird: There's a lady named Miss Finch who's chasing me, and I was wondering, do you mind if I hide in your fun fair?
  Sam: Why no. Not at all. We have the perfect place for you to hide. Right here: in our "hiding cage."
  (cut to the brothers lock him in)
  Sam: You'll be safe here.
  Sid: Yeah, real safe.
  Big Bird: Gee, thanks!
  (the brothers laugh)
  • Later, when Big Bird finally realizes the brothers' true colors as the pair play cards.
  Big Bird: Hey guys, you can let me out now. Is it safe now? Can I get out now?
  Sam: What's the matter, don't you like your cage?
  Big Bird: My cage? My— my- my— MY CAGE!?
• The Sleaze brothers getting pulled over by John Candy's state trooper:
  Sam: What seems to be the problem, officer? What's the charge?
  Trooper: (flipping through his notebook) What about counterfeiting, extortion, fraud, impersonating a dentist, stealing an apple from a kid?^note Sam did indeed steal that apple from the kid on the ferris wheel earlier in the movie, and the kid himself is with the trooper as the brothers are arrested, likely being the one who told him about the incident.
  Sam: Oh, about that apple, officer, I can explain that. We was just holding it for a friend.
  Sid: Yeah, for a friend.
  State Trooper: You can tell that... to the judge.
  Sid: (crying like a baby) The judge!
  State Trooper: Be a man!
  Sid: But I don't wanna be a man!
  Sam: SHUT UP, SID! SHUT UP!
  Sid: (still crying) Judge, Sam... jail...
• Bert and Ernie hide in the Sleaze Brothers' ferris wheel, scouring the fair with binoculars while looking for Big Bird:
  Bert: What do you see, Ernie?
  Ernie: Your nose, Bert.
• One the film's more self-aware jokes has Gordon trying to get Big Bird to jump into the Beetle, complete with Gordon’s exasperated faces when Big Bird gives him a hard time:
  Big Bird: I'm not supposed to do this! Why, you should never jump from a moving truck! Why... I shouldn't even be standing up!
  Gordon: You have my permission! Just this once. NOW, COME ON!
  • Earlier:
  Big Bird: Gordon, look, the doors are open!
  Gordon: I know, now—now, come on!
  Big Bird: Come on? Gordon, you know I can't fly.
  (inside the truck)
  Sid: I got an idea! What if we built a big high tower, and we have him jump into a pool of water?
  (outside)
  Big Bird: Jump?!
  (inside)
  Sam: Nah! He's a chicken.
  • Sid's other idea for Big Bird:
  Sid: Hula hoop!
  Sam: (hits Sid with his hat) NO!
• The Don't Drop Inn, a Grouch diner, stands out as one of the most hilarious parts of the entire movie.
  • The menu consists of barely-edible food combinations such as candied clams with French dressing, and cream of garlic soup with maraschino cherries.
    Maria: There's nothing here I can eat!
  • As it turns out, there is one item on that menu that doesn't involve unspeakably revolting ingredient combos: the tossed salad. Maria and Oscar decide to order two of those, and promptly find out that the salad is literally tossed at customers with a catapult, resulting in a Food Fight.
    Telly: (having decided to skip the Grouch meal and wait in the car with the Honker accompanying the group) Gee, maybe we made a mistake, that salad looks great!
  • One grouch customer ordered a "medium-rare Jell-O", and is frustrated at having gotten it well-done instead. Throughout the scene, he can be heard complaining about it, all the way until the end, where he's screaming in anger.
    Grouch: WHEREEEE'S MYYYYYY JELLLLL-OOOOOOOO?!
• Oscar's response to Bob asking if there are any questions about the Street's residents' plans to find Big Bird:
  Oscar: What is the capital of South Dakota?
  Bob: Oscar, if you don't want to go on this trip, you don't have to.
  Oscar: Are you kidding? I love wild goose chases! (puts on his driving cap) Let's go get lost.
• Bert and Ernie actually find Big Bird about halfway through the movie, but Ernie's goofiness kicks in as he starts singing "Upside-Down World". When it's finished, he, of course, manages to blame Bert for the near-miss.
  Bert: Ernie, do something to get his attention.
  Ernie: Okay! Hang on, Bert! (pulls the plane into a full-speed descent)
  Bert: AAAAAAHHHH! ERNIEEEEEEEEE!
  • Making the scene even funnier is that it's a full-force parody of North By Northwest, right down to the pesticide cloud.
  Bert: AH! MY BOTTLECAP COLLECTION!
  Big Bird: (after said bottlecaps land on him while he's hiding in a cornfield) A hailstorm?
• Just about ANY scene with the Dodos, especially their final scene, where they run back inside their house after Kermit tells them they are on TV.
  Kermit: Well, there you have it, ladies and gentlemen: The Dodos. (looks back at them) And, uh...they certainly are.
  Count: (watching the news) One green froggy!
  • Bert and Ernie's reaction to the Dodos, as if thinking "Big Bird left us for them?".
• Sid crying to Big Bird's "I'm So Blue" song is both funny and touching.
• Big Bird tries to convince a skeptical turkey truck driver to give him a lift by telling him "my friend Oscar always says that I'm a big turkey." The driver silently gives this more consideration than it's probably worth, before deciding that he really can't argue with it.

---